Album cover research

Hail to the Thief - Radiohead (2003)



Interesting facts about the album and its cover:

-It is alternatively called 'The Gloaming'
-Similarly each track on the album has a alternative title in brackets on the tracklist and the lyrics in the cover which are phrases taken off American radio during the 'war on terror' in 2001 and placed out of context
-The album artwork is in the style of a roadmap (which becomes more clear on the inside cover) and is said to be based on American city style layout
-Of the phrases that appear most are taken from lyrics in the album but generally all have political connotations especially as often American spellings are chosen over English (despite Radiohead being British)
-The song 2+2=5 is said to be a reference to Orwellian subverted reality

Images:

-The image that takes up the cover and the inside is a painting of a roadmap with controversial/political words instead of building names
-The colours used are all quite primary and high contrast which means the roadmap and words are highlighted
-The whole cover has quite a rustic feel and the handwriting is in block capitals and is not particularly neat
-Above the text (particularly on the inside) the blue and white background with black paint drips looks like a dark city skyline and it is clear from the darkness of the sky and the immensity and blackness of the buildings that it is not a desirable city
-An image of the band or any other image is not featured on the cover or the inside of this album

Text:

-The text style and words make up the most important aspect of this cover

-The font used is very simple which emphasises the meaning of the words

-The contrast in colour between the text and background within the squares also emphasises the words and their meaning

-The words are big enough to be read easily

-The album is very much relevant to the time it was written and recorded 2000-2003 (roughly) and the text reflects this with words and phrases such as 'Hamburger', '24hr', 'hail to the thief', 'quango' and 'capitalism'.

-The effect that the text has is controversial and fitting with the political aspect of the album

Iconography and genre signifiers:

-The whole image hints at the political motivation behind the album and lyrics
-This form of middle-class protest suggests that the band play alternative music and don't play by nobodys rules (not even their own)

Institutional context:

-The cover suggests that the band is either successful enough to not have a conventional cover as people will still buy the album or that the band is on an independant label and so is not restricted by their label as much
-The cover does not look like it is trying to create a brand identity as it does not show the band so the cover looks like the cover of a band that is already well established
-The cover could connote underground insitution but it is quite typical of alternative rock to have slightly unconventional or controversial covers so in that sense it is conventional of the genre

Target audience:

-The album brings forward issues such as recycling, oil and the afghanistan war which suggest quite a middle class audience
-References to George Orwell's 1984 suggest an intellectual audience
-The whole unconventional style of the cover suggests quite an established target audience